WestConn sophomore killed in car accident

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Heather Barr THE NEWS-TIMES

Published 1:00 am, Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Twenty-year-old Michelle Saccoccio of Danbury was spending the weekend in her hometown of Enfield to celebrate her 18-year-old brother James' graduation when she was killed in a car accident Sunday night.

The
Western Connecticut State University
sophomore was driving north in her 1997 Honda Civic on Main Street in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor around 10 p.m., said East Windsor police in Broad Brook.

She was rounding a curve when police think she lost control of her car, which went into a spin and into the oncoming lane of traffic. The car was sliding sideways when it was struck by a southbound Ford Focus driven by Jennifer Nabors, 21, of East Windsor.

"She was a sweetheart since the day she was born," said their father, who added that he will miss Michelle's spirit - outgoing, giving and sweet. "She made everyone feel like a friend."

One of those friends is making collages of pictures of Michelle for her funeral, said Christina.

The family expects thousands to attend. They are making refrigerator magnets with Michelle's picture, name and the date she died to give guests. Friends have erected a roadside memorial at the scene of the accident.

Jennifer said she and her sisters had talked going to California. "We wanted to go to San Francisco," she said, because they all liked sushi and heard it was really good there.

"We went out for sushi once a week," Christina said.

Last year, their father took Michelle to Tampa to see two bands she liked, Weezer and the Foo-Fighters. This March, he took all four siblings on a cruise to the Bahamas.

"It was our first and last family vacation," said Jennifer Saccoccio.

Mario Saccoccio and girls' mother,
Ava Saccoccio
, are divorced. Ava Saccoccio is now married to
Dave Hill
and lives in Enfield.